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Antarctica (Future of The World)
Today, Antarctica is a frozen wasteland of ice and penguins. However, as the continent drifts further northeast, the ice in the northern half of the continent slowly melts away. By 40 MyF, ocean currents and rafts of vegetation from South America and Australia allow mammalian, avian and reptilian megafauna to migrate to Antarctica. As a result, Antarctica has become a battlefield between the mammals, birds and reptiles. Meanwhile, forests have returned to the continent and southern Antarctica is now a cold taiga forest while the northern half is temperate and warm. Forty-Five Million Years Later By this time, Antarctica has changed drastically. Many species from South America and Australia have arrived and evolved into many new species, completely changing the ecosystem. Also, since the arrival of the new mosasaurs, coastal penguins have gone on decline; only some 12 species are left as a result. However, some penguins soon move inland as the climate warms up and soon start exploring new niches. Northern Temperate Forest As Antarctica continues to drift northeast, the glaciers on the northern half of the continent slowly melt away and now have been replaced by temperate forest and grasslands. As a result, many more land animals are able to live here. These forests are also filled with nothofagus and fruit trees. Reptiles *Thanks to some changes in ocean currents on the east Australian coast due to continental drift, the saltwater crocodile was able to expand its range throughout the eastern coast of the island continent. Eventually, it managed to reach Antarctica as the once completely frozen continent drifted northeast around 35 MyF. In just 10 million years, the saltwater crocodile managed to evolve into seven species. Some became terrestrial apex predators due to the lack of competition on Antarctica. One of these is the forest species of crusher crocodile, Gigacrocodylus horridus. This species is the largest of the terrestrial saltwater crocodile descendants at 4.6 meters long and 1.7 meters tall and weighing about half a ton. It's also the dominant predator of the northern Antarctic forests thanks to a lack of competition. It feasts on large mammals, giant flightless birds and even young gubernators if normal prey is scarce. Its limbs are also directly under its body. This has allowed the crocs to gain the ability to switch between an ectothermic and endothermic metabolism depending on the situation. However, it is still too cold for these giant crocs to spread to the much colder southern half of the continent. There are many subspecies of this croc as well. *Unlike other continents at this time, Antarctica is surprisingly scarce in squamates. However, there are exceptions. One of them is the medium-sized master tree dragon, Draconem arboris. It's descended from bearded dragons that got to Antarctica on rafts of vegetation. It has become much more arboreal and agile now and can hop from branch to branch to reach food. Like its ancestors, this mesopredator is omnivorous, eating fruits, insects and leaves. Although it also now eats eggs and small vertebrates. It also serves a role as a minor seed disperser for the spreading of fruit trees. However, they can become easy prey for crusher crocodiles when on the ground; they are also preyed on by large arboreal marsupials in the trees. Luckily, they now have sharp keratin spikes on their backs to use as a defense from large predators. Mammals *After the Postocene Thermal Maximum, the marsupials went on a sharp decline; some didelphimorphs migrated to other lands in order to avoid competition. A few made it to Antarctica on large rafts of vegetation. One of these was the common opossum which evolved into the marsupial leopard, Thylacopardus pardus. This cougar-sized predator is found in the temperate forests of northeast Antarctica. It has become completely carnivorous and usually hunts smaller prey in the trees although they will hunt smaller prey on the ground if they need to, while they hunt larger prey by jumping on them from the trees. The marsupial leopard diet consists of large lagomorphs, rodents and large flightless birds. However, if normal prey is scarce, they'll also hunt, smaller mammals, smaller birds, master tree dragons, eggs and very rarely, young crusher crocs and gubernators. *When the brown rat arrived in Antarctica, it rapidly diversified into many niches and many new species thanks to the lack of competition. One of these is an herbivore similar to the Patagonian Mara known as the Antarctic False Deer, Neocervus rattus. Despite the name this is no deer but a large rodent, measuring at 1.2 meters long and 0.8 meters tall. This herbivore eats fruits, grass, leaves, flowers and seeds. It's also a favorite prey item for marsupial leopards, small gubernators and forest crusher crocs. These large rodents travel in family groups of up to a dozen individuals.